


All We Hold Dear

by chofi



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, babby's first time writing Ravus, restrained purple prose, so much wiki-walking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24233575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chofi/pseuds/chofi
Summary: Ravus's meditations as he hears of Lunafreya's and Noctis's movements around Eos to secure the covenants. For BGN846 in Quarantine Exchange.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Ravus Nox Fleuret
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	All We Hold Dear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bgn846](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgn846/gifts).



1\. “Ere long they will come for you”

Ravus pours over reports from the imperial surveys into the Disc of Cauthess: a history of the region’s usual seismic activity, the recent increase in tremors, predictions of future intensity and frequency. Pages of charts and tables. Photographs of Titan and His surroundings as if He were an unruly behemoth stalked by hunters instead of the Archaean.

Not a hint of the truth any son of Tenebrae would have learned as a child, not for godless Niflheim.

More importantly, not a line—thanks be to the Six—about Lunafreya and Gentiana.

Ravus is interrupted from his ruminations by an aide. The press wants a statement about the blockades, the aide informs him. Something suitably authoritative and confident, ready to record within the hour.

Instead, the moment the aide leaves him be he writes to Lunafreya in haste and hides the missive on his person. He’ll find the time to dispatch it later.

Ravus is still mentally piecing together which of his staff would make a suitable escort for Lunafreya and Gentiana when the interviewer arrives, points a recorder at him, and gestures for him to begin.

He takes a breath. Not a hint of guile would be found in his voice. “We believe the insurgents behind the Citadel attack have taken refuge in Duscae. The blockades shall help...”

2\. “The futility of your toils”

Ravus listens to himself deliver a statement on the abatement of the earthquakes. “...The imperial army took swift action and laid the unruly giant to rest, thus averting disaster.”

The portion of his soul that still clings to his mother’s teachings _screams_ at the blasphemy. It is smothered by appeals to practicality, to safety. So long as the truth is in his heart, then...

He spares a few more moments for the broadcast’s speculation on the unseasonable storms in Duscae. Lunafreya, of course, entreating the Fulgarian, though none would know it from listening to _this_. He turns off the radio.

Ravus had not been privy to all of the Oracle’s mysteries, but he knew enough. The Six demanded compensation for deigning to come to the aid of mortals. The Oracle would be the one to provide it, piece by piece, for the good of all.

The worth of Lunafreya’s sacrifices hung on the worth of the child for whom she intercedes. A child who had _fled_ while Lunafreya had stayed behind. For Tenebrae. For Ravus.

The fires, the burning, the hot acid in his gut from the pain of his failures. A sop Ravus provides for himself is his trophy from the sacking of the Citadel: King Regis’s sword, now in a place of honor on a wall in Ravus’s quarters. Ravus couldn’t unleash the sword’s full potential, but then, neither could Noctis.

Neither of them were worthy. Neither of them would ever be.

An aide arrives with a dispatch. The storms in Duscae have stopped. Ravus gives his left hand a fleeting glance and begins another missive to Lunafreya.

3\. “Know full well the cost”

The truth—the safest portion of it—is out in the open, now: the world knows Lunafreya is alive. Alive and seeking refuge and succor in Altissia.

Ravus had coddled his pride by insisting Noctis’s covenants with the Archean and the Furgarian were more signs of Their mercy than of Noctis’s strength. Should Noctis form a pact with the Hydraean, then…

Ravus’s left hand closes into a loose fist. He releases the fist and spreads out his fingers. Again, a fist. Again, release.

His mother’s life snuffed out in Regis’s stead; his sister now fading away for Noctis.

Again, a fist. Lucis had turned its back on Tenebrae, leaving House Fleuret to bear the costs.

Again, release. Lunafreya never holds fast to anyone or anything she knows will in some way falter and fall.

He writes to Lunafreya once more and then makes ready to go to Altissia.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, BGN846! Writing Ravus was a challenge, but I hope I pulled it off. I know that you wanted something fluffy, but I couldn't get Ravus to cooperate. Please accept Ravus slowly becoming less angry and more accepting of his and Noctis's roles in place of the fluff.


End file.
